Marching on City Hall

An update from Emma:

Wednesday 16th March was a defining day for the SaveKEMP campaign. We planned a protest at City Hall to give support to our elected London Assembly Member John Biggs who was going to address the GLA on our behalf.

We expected about 30 people, we dreamt of having 50 supporters committed enough to brave the grey weather and take a couple of hours off work, chores, daily routines. Imagine the surprise when over one hundred people turned up with banners, whistles and even fancy dresses! It was an excellent snapshot of our community: all ages, races and creeds were represented showing that our park IS really the heart and soul of our area.

Our MP, Jim Fitzpatrick, came to march with us. So did LBTH Cllrs Peter Golds and Craig Aston and Respect Party Chair, Abjol Miah. Lee Hurst was there, too, with his mate, Bafta-winning writer, Alan Gilbey, another long-standing supporter of SaveKEMP. St Paul’s school’s headmaster, Terry Bennett, sent a delegation of children. As always, the St Mary &St Michael’s PTA mums brought some colour to our ensemble.

We marched from Tower Gateway Station to City Hall where we met John Biggs and Andrew Boff, another GLA member who supports our campaign. Another group of supporters was also waiting to join us there. They heard us coming from a far, our chanting “Save Our Park, Save Our Park” was louder than rush hour traffic.

It was an electrifying experience to see the community come together. For all the divisions that sometimes arise in our community, yesterday is proof that if we want we can overcome anything. If one thing good has come from this bad predicament we are in is exactly this: the community has come together. All of it. To that, I add the personal bonus of having made some wonderful friends for life. I think I can speak for them, too, when I say that we are very proud of our community and our campaigners.